Posted on 01/11/2007 3:37:41 AM PST by aculeus
The Duke rape hoax is redolent of past decades' phony child-abuse cases.
No one could have imagined, when the story began last March, how soon and completely that bit of shorthand--"the Duke University scandal"--would be transformed.
Scarcely 10 months after, the term is now almost universally understood as a reference to the operations of Michael Nifong, the Durham County district attorney (pictured nearby), whose abandonment of all semblance of concern about the merits of the rape and assault accusations against three Duke University students was obvious from the first. So was his abundant confidence while broadcasting comments on the guilt of the accused. He seemed a man immune to concerns for appearances as he raced about expounding on the case against the accused lacrosse players and calling them hooligans. He would hear nothing by way of concern from Duke administrators (seven months into this affair, the university president did find an opportunity to mention the accused students' right to a presumption of innocence)--and certainly none from the politically progressive quarters of the Duke faculty who lent their names to an impassioned ad thanking everyone who had come out to march in protest against the rape and assault of the exotic dancer; 88 faculty members signed it, among them such Duke luminaries as Alice Kaplan, author and student of fascism, and Frank Lentricchia, literary critic.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Nifong is a dem. His entire motivation in prosecuting this case was to win an election the the heavily dem and high-percentage black Durham.
Yes and I put her name in the headline 'cause I knew she had to have fans at FR.
She is. You ought to start a Dorothy Rabinowitz Ping List. (hint, hint) :)
Let's not forget that the Amiraults were never 'made whole' and Scott Harshbarger, the Prosecutor, has never been penalized for framing them. The federal government has done nothing about the Amiraults and probably won't do anything about the Duke situation either.
Ping
bump
Powerful article by Rabinowitz. All the lefties who scream about Bush curtailing our rights ought to be up in arms over abuses by guys like Nifong. That is the real threat. As I recall, a prosecutor named Janet Reno also helped imprison some innocent people in FL back in the 1980s. Interesting that as US attorney general she didn't do much to fight crime, but as a prosecutor she made sure that innocent people were put away. I guess the supporters of Mumia and their ilk were not disturbed by these miscarriages of justice.
I am glad that Amirault guy is finally out of prison though the powers that be ruined his life. I wonder if there is an address to which I can send him some money since he will probably never find employment. He should get some kind of pardon from Gov Patrick, but I suspect that will not happen since Patrick also has a reputation for protecting the guilty. The rights of the innocent probably are not important.
He deserves all the attacks on his behaviour, and also deserves to be in jail alongside the whoring liar of an accuser.
My impression is she's semi-retired and is published infrequently. Besides I don't do ping lists (me grouchy).
On her show last night, Greta said that Nifong's entire office should be held responsible for this travesty. She said this case did not happen in a vacuum and all of Nifong's assisstants aided and abetted his phony prosecution.
I hope, I hope all the parents....every single parent to the 47 team members, sue him, and every accomplice....
..Plus those of Duke faculty who signed that letter early in the investigation AND Brodhead
..(and I'm not big on litigation, but sure make an exception in this case)
I wondered about that....It would make sense. Now I think Nifong belongs in a psychiatric facility as do both of those strippers.
A young student was murdered. Broadhead pointed the finger at an associate professor who was then pilloried in the press. The police focussed their investigation on that young man to the exclusion of any others.
Keep in mind that the population around Yale is BLACK. Pointing a finger at a white professor seemed appropriate to Broadhead.
In the end there was NO evidence linking him to the murder. No DNA,no no no nothing. By the time the police realized that the professor was innocent all the clues and/or witnesses were long gone.
Something's that's disappeared without a trace
http://www.newsobserver.com/145/story/506921.html
The Amiraults case still makes my blood boil.
Another reason I despise MA and All its recent so-called Republican governors.
Spineless bastards.
Bingo. Where is the Justice Department? Too busy monitoring school systems for decades old discrimination settlements. Never mind that it is ignoring this incredible civil rights violation.
He had a job waiting for him when he got out of prison.
His family and friends never doubted him.
Right now it seems that Nifong's best hope to stay out of the soup is to prosecute hard and hope by some fluke he gets a conviction and "vindication" thereby.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.